The Prosperity of Networks

This time of year many metaphysical centers offer prosperity as part of their class lineup. It’s a great time of year to look at things in a new way, and prosperity classes and workshops are always popular.

Prosperity is a tricky subject, though. We all want more of it, but the truth about spiritual prosperity sometimes disappoints those who are hoping to learn how to channel the winning powerball numbers.

Expanding our prosperity is less often about increasing our bottom line and much more often about adjusting our perspective to see the prosperity that is all around us – like the prosperity of our networks – or the people we know.

Each of us has a body of knowledge. We travel in unique circles and are exposed to a variety of people, organizations and places. The more people we know and interact with, the more opportunities we have to benefit from their unique experiences, and here’s a specific example.

A friend of mine needed some dental work done. His dental coverage was not as robust as it had been in previous jobs, so when he went to a local dentist he was told that he needed 2 root canals and the cost would be $5,000 out of pocket. My friend gulped, said “Thanks” and sought out another local dentist. The story was similar, and the cost even higher.

In a conversation one day he mentioned his dental dilemma to me. My first question was, “Have you considered going to the dental school clinic at the local university?”

As it turns out, he had not realized that the dental school at the university had a clinic. I had knowledge of it from my time as a faculty member at the university. We had hired an administrative person into our department who had left the dental school. While I had never used the dental school clinic services I had been curious enough at the time to quiz the woman on what services were offered. I figured at some point in my life the information would come in handy.

My friend made an appointment at the dental school and with experienced and learned Dental medicine professors checking all the work, discovered that he only needed 1 root canal, and 1 filling and that the total out of pocket cost would be less than $250.

This is a large demonstration of prosperity, but demonstrations like this often fail to register with us when we ponder the expansion of our own abundance. We look for bonuses, raises and winning lottery tickets – all of which are welcome expressions of Good, but let’s not forget that prosperity is sometimes hidden in plain sight: tucked away in the knowledge and connections of the people we know – our networks.

If you are using this 1st month of 2017 to look anew at your abundance and prosperity, look around at who you know; what they know and what a blessing their knowledge and connections can be to you. And don’t forget that your knowledge and connections may be a blessing-in-waiting for others, too.

Nowhere are these principles more eloquently stated than the affirmations penned by the late Florence Scovel Shinn.